Wednesday, June 20, 2012

projects that went down...

well, not by myself (as i am still nursing my finger...) but it is very nice to see that some of the lines i brushed (may some have been "found" before by others, but not cleaned, or then they got all "green" again...) but not was able to climb, got their ascents during the last years and some very hard ones the last year:

first of all there were these little holds behind the darkness-cave in magic wood, right beside a line brushed and cleaned by my friend tobi. tobi built a huge landing-zone for THE kingline in magic wood: "the bizarre ride" which still waits to be toped out by him (SCARY and HARD!!!). at the right of it i found some small holds, started to brush, built a landing zone an tried a bit on what got the projectname of "black pearl" cause of the beautiful black rock! but on every move i was kind of 30cm "too short" ... better say... WAY too weak. but it was clear that it was possible, there were holds. but super hard. so it was amazing news to hear that daniel woods did the first ascent of that nice and proud line: "La force tranquille, 8C". and for the future... there is also a possible direct topout to this line... absolute stunning but bit scarrrrrry one - any takers???!!!

opening moves...

(here the first ever published pics?!)daniel woods on theFA of "La force tranquille, 8C".

higher up; better holds but still hard and steep, the line now goes to the right (big, bit loose flake) it would also be possible to head up straight, bit left (you can see the line of the "bizarre ride" down left here)

at the same time tobias kleemair cleaned THE kingline of magic wood 2m to the left. his "bizarre ride". 2m right from tobi you can see the ticks and the "non-holds" of "la force tranquille" and the possible direct exit. pic by angleawagner.ch

another angle to get an idea of the steepness of "bizarre ride" (which is the line climbed in the pic) and "la force tranquille" of which you can see chalk on the very right.... pic by jarko.

another story was the stunning line of "steppenwolf, 8A+/B" at magic wood. after i was able to climb that one in 2005, i noticed some kind of holds going right and up. it looked like a very nice line. so i brushed and cleaned it, chalked it and had an idea for a beta. unfortunately i was not able to do even one of the HARD moves. so you have a idea of how hard it is compared to topping out "steppenwolf". it was BIG news for me as i heard that chris webb pearsons was able to link all that moves. and he did it perfectly the way i pictured it. but for me each move was just WAY too hard! so with some totally sick and HARD beta "believe in two, 8C" was born. the line got a second ascent by daniel woods with a totally different beta (which is likely to may not be possible anymore in the future cause of a loose hold that will breake... )

chris in the crux of "believe in two, 8C". super SICK and HARD cross move to be followed by a SUPER long and hard move out to the very right with his beta. pic by rock.com.au

next one was last summer/fall- visit of dai koyamada. it was very nice to meet him again and it is always amazing to see him climbing. everything looks soooo easy, light and precise when he is climbing and you can not tell if it is 6A or 8A by just watching him... he was in perfect shape climbing everything from 8A-8C very fast. his next project was the low start of "the story..." in cresciano. but there it was way too warm. so we met up there in the mountains of sustenpass. also there he was so fast in climbing through nearly all the established classic lines. so i suggested to him a very nice, unclimbed line on the other side of the sustenpass that i had in mind since some time. so after short work day came back and there was born another stunning boulder: "paradise lost, 8B/B+".

dai koyamada on the FA of "paradise lost, 8B/B+", steingletscher. (click to see dai in this massive line!) pic by ikuko serata

after this dai joined me at the "traumland-boulder" where he quickly did the classic lines and the first repetition of "deadalus, 8B+". as there is a logcial, direct (and harder) topout to "deadalus" (over "schön wie..."). i suggested to dai to give it a try. as i met him again some days later he had done the FA of "deadalus direct, 8B+/C". way to gooooooooo!!!

day koyamada on the FA of "deadalus direct, 8B+/C", sustenpass. pic by angelawagner.ch

back in chironico last fall i met again with "gu". there was this direct exit to "block addiction" who was waiting to be climbed. i did the standingstart with a visiting american-climber last year. but had a super hard time on the "blochx-addiciton-part". as i was working the "fish-project" this spring i tried it again and suddenly was able to do the lower moves as well. but somehow i never went back up there at the "paese"-area. so it was up to "gu" to make the FA of "pure addiction, 8A+/B" (i have upgraded that one for myself to 8B, as this i seriously HARDER then the "regular" ticino 8A+....)

and there are older problems like the superclassic of "one summer in paradise, 8B" up there in magic wood.

working the moves of "one summer in paradise" back in 2004. i immediately saw and cleaned the line full line (before there was just the start in the middle of the line called "pura vida") and finally my friend simon wandeler was able to make the 1st ascent, some weeks later i was there for the 2nd ascent... pic by simon from munich.

or "deep throat, 8B" in magic wood.

i cleaned it with petra together an we thought it to be 7B!!! but then we basically were unable to do a single move. so i showed it to dave graham, we worked it and we figured out some RAD and HARD (way harder then what it is climbed these days) beta and dave (as always) took it down with great style - i still did not top out that one... but i will (once my finger gets better...). pic by angelawagner.ch

all this FA's are very inspiring and it shows me what is possible when you are REALLY strong... i am working hard on that ;)